The caravan from Honghe Town arrived earlier than planned.
After hearing the news of the destruction of the Blood Hand Clan, these merchants rushed to the northern suburbs of Qingquan City in just two and a half days.
The longer the time drags on and the colder the weather, the lower the probability of the captives surviving. They need to transport these captives back to Honghe Town before they freeze to death and then sell them to suitable buyers.
If more than half of them die on the way back, they won't make much money on this trip...
Facing the heavy snow, the dusty caravan arrived at the door of the abandoned tire factory.
Signaling the team behind to stop, a man wearing a cotton coat and a semi-automatic rifle on his chest came out.
Looking up at Chu Guang and Hain standing at the gate, he said in a loud voice.
"I am an employee of the Horseshoe Trading Company. All the goods you want are here!"
Hain's bodyguard named Wen was also in the caravan.
However, his status did not allow him to interrupt here, so he just stood beside the yaks carrying supplies, cleaning the cylinder of the revolver rifle to kill time.
"Wait a minute."
Chu Guang made a gesture and then looked at the players on the side.
The players who had been waiting for the plot for a long time and couldn't wait to see the manager come, and immediately turned the capstan and opened the wooden gate.
As the gate opened, a group of looters, detained by four players, walked out of the dungeon dejectedly.
"Be honest!"
"Don't dawdle!"
In fact, these looters didn't dawdle, but the players just wanted to shout something, otherwise they always felt that something was missing.
Due to the language barrier, these looters didn't understand what the blue coats were saying, and could only feel from the shaking muzzles that they were probably urging them to move forward.
Looking at the yak team and the horseshoe-shaped badge at the entrance of the village, many veteran raiders have guessed their own fate, and their faces are filled with dead despair.
Only a few young raiders looked confused, not knowing where they would be taken and what their fate would be.
The players holding rifles were talking in a low voice.
Some of them had died in battle a few days ago, but now they are alive.
Makaba: "Some of the captives here look familiar."
Debt Eyes: "Hey, who killed you?"
Makaba: "Who knows? It was so dark, and the bullets were flying. I don't think it was the other side who did it. Damn! I get angry just thinking about it. How could I die?"
Debt Eyes: "Come on, you're just a bad guy and it's over with one sentence. No one hates you. And your teammates made up for it. Do you think they didn't check the holes afterwards?"
Makaba: "Okay, let's not talk about it... Where do you think these predators will be sent to?"
Debt Eyes: "It looks like the administrator is planning to sell them to Honghe Town."
Makaba: "Honghe Town?"
Debt Eyes: "It's in the official setting collection. Didn't you see it? It's a town under Qingquan City, about a few dozen kilometers away. There are many pre-war landfills there. Slaves sold there will be sent to mines and dig until they die."
"Tsk, tsk, too miserable..." Makabazi's eyes turned, and suddenly he had a sudden thought, "But then again, if I sell myself to them and then commit suicide, wouldn't I be able to get something for free?"
Hearing this trick, Debt Eyes was shocked.
"Fuck, are you fixing a bug here?"
Although the crimes they committed were enough to be hanged on the gallows ten times, Chu Guang still retained their basic human rights, allowing them to keep their clothes and shoes, eat the meat of unknown composition in the warehouse, and use a small amount of looted bandages for simple bandages.
The reason for doing this was not out of pity.
It was purely because he was worried that too many people would die and affect his income.
The good days of these people are still to come.
"30?" The leading man counted the number of captives, looked at Chu Guang and asked, "Why is there one less?"
"Maybe he froze to death."
Chu Guang, who came down from the gate of the village, looked back as if nothing had happened, and happened to see a player dragging a corpse with a broken leg out of the dungeon.
Seeing that the numbers matched, the leading man nodded, and said nothing, just asked the guards behind him to help unload the goods.
The sooner the transaction is completed, the sooner they can go home.
...
According to the agreement between Chu Guang and Hain, regardless of whether they are disabled or not, each prisoner will be exchanged for goods of equal value at the standard of 20 kilograms of crude salt.
31 prisoners died, so 30 were counted, totaling 600 kilograms of crude salt.
Here, crude salt is a specialty of Honghe Town and a general equivalent for transactions between the two sides.
It was useless for Chu Guang to have so much crude salt, so in addition to 200 kilograms of crude salt, the remaining 400 kilograms of crude salt were exchanged for some specialties of Honghe Town.
These included 30 revolver rifles, eight boxes of more than 4,000 copper-wrapped handmade bullets, a large number of copper ingots, zinc ingots, chromium ingots, and strong oxidants such as potassium permanganate.
The former meets the defense needs of the outpost, while the latter is the raw material that drives the industrial development of the outpost.
In addition, there are some hardware parts used in processing machinery, as well as some mechanical parts such as gears and transmission shafts, which are mainly prepared for the boss lady of the weapon shop.
Although several young players majoring in metallurgy can also make them by hand, the problem of steelmaking has not been solved, and the strength of the material is always a flaw.
The quality of the hand-sharpened knives can only be said to be hard to describe. It is okay to use them for a while, but the wear and tear in actual use is surprisingly high, and they even have to be replaced every few days.
So much so that Chu Guang suspected several times whether Xia Yan did it deliberately for laziness.
Although the industrial capacity of Honghe Town is not as good as that of Boulder City, there is no problem in producing some processing tools, and the quality is also acceptable.
This time Chu Guang specially bought a few more sets, which should be no problem until the beginning of next spring.
In order to transport these goods, the Horseshoe Company mobilized a total of ten mutant yaks, and also equipped them with 8 gunmen holding revolver rifles as guards.
Looking at the people unloading, Chu Guang glanced at Hain next to him and said.
"Come to think of it, that person said he was an employee of the Horseshoe Company. Are they your colleagues?"
Hain explained with a grin.
"Although we are all employees of the Horseshoe Company, employees like me may be slightly different from the employees you understand. Simply put, our relationship with the company is more like cooperation than employment. The caravan guards and yaks you saw are all the company's property, and those goods are bought by us employees with our own money."
Chu Guang's heart moved.
"Bought from the company?"
Haien looked at Chu Guang in surprise, as if he was surprised that he knew, and nodded.
"Yes, our goods are all purchased from the company, and the sellers are basically all customers of the company... except this time. We will reconcile every transaction, deduct the cost of purchasing and hiring guards, and we also need to give 60% of the profit to the company."
This sounds a bit like a franchise system.
Purchasing, logistics and even customer relations are all "headquarters", while merchants like Haien are like franchisees.
In this way, even if the business loses money, the Horseshoe Company does not have to bear any risks, and the loss is entirely the franchisee's own.
If the business makes a profit, the company will extract 60% of the profit.
No, even if it loses money, it is still profitable for the company.
After all, all "franchisees" get goods from the company, and the company certainly cannot sell these goods to franchisees at cost price. There must be a part of the profit that is intercepted.
Thinking of this, Chu Guang couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
These natives are still good at cutting leeks.
Compared with them, I am simply too kind!
However, I can learn from this trading model in the future.
For example, use it in the business system.
...
"Goodbye, my friend, I hope to have a happy transaction with you next spring!"
The delivery of the goods was finally completed. Hain and his two bodyguards stood next to the caravan and took off their hats to salute Chu Guang.
Chu Guang smiled faintly and waved his hand.
"Have a good trip."
Hain said with a hearty smile.
"Hahaha, I'm afraid we have to go against the wind for a while! I'll go ahead, good luck to you!"
The group started on their way.
At this time, Chu Guang noticed that the female mercenary following Haien suddenly turned around and looked at him with resentment.
Their eyes just met, but the female mercenary was not shy, and even threw a kiss to him carelessly, and left a sentence with her lips, "We will see each other again",
Then, she disappeared into the vast snow fog with the caravan.
Chu Guang was slightly stunned, frowned and thought for a long time, but he couldn't remember the name of this person, and was even more confused about her last behavior.
Was it... Wendy?
Or was it Helen?
After all, he only heard the merchant named Hain say it once, who would pay attention to the name of the mercenary next to a merchant?
Forget it, I'm too lazy to think about such an irrelevant question.
Chu Guang shook his head and asked the players to load the materials exchanged for slaves onto the cart and prepare to tow them back to the warehouse of the outpost.
However, although Chu Guang himself didn't care, he couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the players around him to gossip. Especially when they saw the last flying kiss, a group of people instantly thought of the Mariana Trench.
"Oh my gosh! That look has a story!"
"I saw it! That flying kiss!"
"Do you think something happened between the manager and that woman?"
"Not really? They only stayed for a few days."
"It's been a few days, okay!"
"Fuck, what about the owner of the weapon shop?"
"Big news! The untold story of a million words between the manager and the female mercenary of the caravan!"
"Tsk tsk, not simple! Definitely not simple! Looks like she's a yellow-haired guy!"
"I see, I'll ask Mole to draw a book when I get back!"
Tsk.
These people are really.
When they see white arms, they think of thighs.
Chu Guang's eyebrows twitched, but he finally restrained the urge to complain and maintained the reserve that an NPC should have.
With a cough, he urged the players who stopped gossiping and forgot about their business to continue working in an imperative tone.
"Hurry up!"
"We have to drag all the goods back while the snow is not as heavy as before!"
Under Chu Guang's urging, the players finally stopped dawdling and quickly loaded the packed goods onto the wooden cart.
Even though they were still chattering, they never stopped from beginning to end.
Finally, they packed up their things and prepared to set off.
Looking at the gate behind them, [Construction Site Boy and Brick], who was on duty, stepped forward and asked Chu Guang for instructions.
"Dear manager, what should we do with this base? Do we still need to guard it?"
There was nothing left in the base, and he was wondering if he could collect the task reward in advance if he didn't need it anymore.
Chu Guang thought for a few seconds and gave the order.
"Burn the gate."
"Leave the rest to the aliens."
This base was too far away from the players' resurrection point, and it had no strategic value in terms of its geographical location, so it was unnecessary to keep it.
Besides, Chu Guang felt his SAN value dropping just standing inside.
I really can't figure out how these predators can live here with a clear conscience.
[Construction Site Boy and Brick] nodded excitedly and said.
"Yes!"
Destruction is much more interesting than cutting trees!
...
Chu Guang trusts the players' looting ability.
They dig deep into the ground, not to mention that they don't even let go of the chips hidden in the corners of the cabinets. The more ruthless ones even move the cabinets back.
There is almost nothing left in the Blood Hand Clan's stronghold that can be used.
And those things that are left are either inconvenient to take away or have no recycling value.
For example, the air-dried meat in the warehouse.
Obviously, a considerable part of this meat is not taken from normal prey.
After air-drying, it is difficult to distinguish from the appearance which is the meat of the prey and which is the meat of the same species.
Out of mental cleanliness, Chu Guang simply didn't want them.
Some of them were thrown as feed to the captured plunderers in the dungeon for a while, and the rest was simply hung on the beams of the tire factory warehouse.
Just feed the rats and cockroaches.
As for potatoes like yams, grains with full grains, and a vegetable that looks like Chinese cabbage, Chu Guang asked people to transport them back and store them.
These are all good things.
Especially those vegetables, which add up to about 3,000 to 4,000 kilograms. Mixed with grains and meat, they are enough for a long time and can balance the nutrition of the clones.
Not surprisingly, these grains were probably obtained by the plunderers from Brown Farm.
In addition to grains, there are also some furs such as hyena skins, deer skins, wild boar skins and even bear skins, totaling 230 pieces.
It is unlikely that all these furs came from Beth Street.
There are only a hundred households in Beth Street. Even if the old leech's bone marrow is extracted, it may not be possible to collect all these tributes.
Chu Guang speculated that a considerable part of them must have been tributed by other survivors in the nearby settlements.
These looters have been busy collecting the stolen goods for a whole autumn, but before they have time to enjoy them, they are all cheap to their new owners.
And Chu Guang naturally has no intention of returning them.
The rules of the wasteland.
Whoever picks it up, it belongs to him.
A raging fire ignited at the gate of the village, and the sparks blown by the north wind kept floating towards the main building.
Looking at the fire in front of him and thinking of the contents of the two diaries, Chu Guang felt some subtle emotions in his heart.
Pulling out the "Silver Snake" revolver inserted in his waist, he fired a shot into the sky.
"Bang!"
The sound of the gun echoed in the snow-covered street, drowned in the wind and snow, as a confession of the dead souls who died here.
He waved away the white smoke floating on the barrel.
Chu Guang put the revolver back into the rattan gun bag, turned around and looked at the waiting players, and walked in front of them.
"Go home!"